Pay cuts at Harvard

* Harvard paid its money managers $78.4 million last year, most of it split between three individuals, but less than the $107.5 million paid a year earlier, a sum that triggered alumni criticism, the New York Times reported Nov. 23.

* At his death at age 102, Italian immigrant Genesio Morlacci left $2.3 million to the University of Great Falls, a campus of about 800 students in Montana, where he had worked as a part-time janitor after retiring from his dry-cleaning business, the Associated Press reported Nov. 22. The endowment will provide $100,000 a year for scholarships.

* Nonprofits must change in order to win back public trust, says United Way president Brian Gallagher, who supports many of the accountability changes proposed by Congress, but warns against changes that could result in micromanagement of the sector, the Associated Press reported Nov. 22.

* Microsoft will expand its community and economic development work in Asia, the region it expects to show the largest growth in information technology over the next 20 to 25 years, including working with China to train 60,000 of its teachers to be information and communication technology experts, the China Post reported Nov. 19.

* Nonprofits controlled by, or with ties to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have supported several of Schwarzenegger’s high-profile events, including international trade missions, but because laws do not require nonprofits to list individual donors, it is not known which of his backers financed the events, the Associated Press reported Nov. 19.

* Nonprofits are becoming more aware of Sarbanes-Oxley, a new survey by Grant Thornton International shows, with more than eight in 10 respondents saying they are “somewhat” or “very familiar” with the act and almost half saying they have changed governance policies because of it, the South Florida Business Journal reported Nov. 16. The act prohibits for-profit companies from making loans to officers and directors, a rule some experts think nonprofits should adopt.

* International Health Partners UK, a new nonprofit, has been launched with the mission of collecting drugs and medical supplies from pharmaceutical companies, either from surplus stock or low-cost extended production runs, and distributing them to developing countries, British Medical Journal reported Nov. 20.

* The British government spent 3.3 billion pounds, or $6.2 billion, in 2001-02, an increase of 48 percent over the previous year, the country’s charity minister said, and will provide grants totaling 4 million pounds, or $7.5 million, to 59 volunteer groups as part of the Year of the Volunteer in 2005, the Charity Times reported Nov. 18.

* Jordan’s Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation began a new $4.2 million effort to bolster the capacity of nonprofits through training and the creation of management programs to help enhance civic community activities and political development in the country, the Jordan Times reported Nov. 22.

* Math for America, a New York foundation, will spend $25 million to train 180 high-school math teachers and provide them with four years of salary supplements, plus stipends for 40 current math teachers, the Associated Press reported Nov. 17.

* High-profile scandals among Scottish charities have prompted leaders to propose a bill aimed at restoring public trust in the sector, legislation that includes strengthening the role of the group that oversees the sector, changing the definition of charity and requiring groups to show how much they raise and spend, the BBC News reported Nov. 16.

* UK charity law is being updated for the first time since the 1600s, requiring that groups demonstrate they have a charitable purpose and provide a public benefit in order to earn charitable status, a change that raises questions about the status of private schools and hospitals, the Guardian reported Nov. 23.